Trump's son says 'happy' to work with Senate intelligence panel on Russia

WASHINGTON, July 10 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's eldest son on Monday offered to talk to a Senate committee investigating alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, after he acknowledged meeting a Russian lawyer during the campaign.

"Happy to work with the committee to pass on what I know," Donald Trump Jr. wrote on Twitter.

Trump Jr., as well as two other close associates of Trump, met with the lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, in June 2016 at Trump Tower in New York.

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WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 20: Donald Trump Jr, with his wife Vanessa and children departs St. John's Church on Inauguration Day on January 20, 2017 in Washington, DC. Donald J. Trump will become the 45th president of the United States today. (Photo by Chris Kleponis - Pool/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 11: Donald Trump Jr. poses with wife Vanessa Trump and their children at Disney On Ice Presents Frozen at Barclays Center on November 11, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Jerritt Clark/WireImage)

NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 11: Donald Trump Jr., wife Vanessa Haydon, and children Kai Madison and Donald John III attend Z100's Jingle Ball 2015 at Madison Square Garden on December 11, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Craig Barritt/Getty Images for iHeartMedia)

Donald Trump Jr,, son of Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump, talks to his wife Vanessa as they await the arrival of the candidate at DonaldTrump's New York presidential primary night rally in Manhattan, New York, U.S., April 19, 2016. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

Donald Trump, Jr. and his wife Vanessa Trump pose for photographers before the start of the Chaiken 2007 fall collection during New York Fashion Week February 6, 2007. REUTERS/Keith Bedford (UNITED STATES)

Donald Trump Jr. (C) jokes around and motions with a large pair of scissors toward the throat of his wife Vanessa Trump (R) while Too Kim Tiah (L) the CEO of TA Global, the owner and developer of Trump International Hotel and Tower Vancouver, looks on during the grand opening of the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada February 28, 2017. REUTERS/Nick Didlick TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Donald Trump Jr. and his wife Vanessa speak with Jared Kushner during inauguration ceremonies for the swearing in of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States on the West front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., January 20, 2017. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 19: (AFP OUT) Donald Trump, Jr., wife Vanessa and children Donald Trump III and Chloe Sophia Trump arrive at Joint Base Andrews in January 19, 2017 in Maryland. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected tomorrow for the inauguration of Trump Jr.'s father, Donald Trump as 45th president of the United States. (Photo by Chris Kleponis-Pool/Getty Images)

The younger Trump has said he agreed to meet the lawyer, who the New York Times described as having links to the Kremlin, after being promised damaging information about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Trump's then-campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, also attended the meeting, the Times said. It described the encounter as the first confirmed private meeting between members of Donald Trump's inner circle and a Russian national.

Congressional committees and a special counsel, Robert Mueller, are investigating whether Russia interfered in the election and colluded with the Trump campaign. Moscow denies the allegations, and Trump says there was no collusion.

Earlier on Monday, a Republican member of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee called on Donald Trump Jr. to testify to the panel.

"Our intelligence committee needs to interview him and others who attended the meeting," Senator Susan Collins told reporters at the U.S. Capitol.

Aides to leaders of the Senate and House intelligence committees declined to comment about whether Donald Trump Jr. would be called to testify.

Allegations of the Trump campaign's ties to Russia have cast a shadow over the Republican president's first months in office.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said on Monday there was nothing inappropriate about the meeting with lawyer Veselnitskaya.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday the Kremlin did not know the identity of the Russian lawyer.

"No, we don't know who it is and, certainly, we cannot track down all movements of all Russian lawyers both within Russia and abroad," Peskov said.

A publicist who arranged the meeting with the lawyer last year said he did so at the request of singer and businessman Emin Agalarov, a Moscow-based client of his. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Writing by Alistair Bell; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)